The Mirage That Is Peace Between Israel and Abbas

It is dark humor indeed to hear folks talking about how, if each party were to compromise a bit, peace would emerge between Israel and the Palestinians. Regrettably, no one ever presents the picture in all its stark truth. Many have the false notion that the Jewish State is something that emerged after WWII, when Hitler attempted to eradicate as many Jews as he could gather up in his net; that if the Jews hadn't emerged as boney stick figures from Nazi concentration camps there would never have existed the impulse to create a Jewish State.

The truth is quite different. Herzl, a central figure in the movement for a Jewish State realized, after seeing a loyal French officer sent to Devil's Island, because of false and anti-Semitically motivated charges, that Jews, as a people, could only escape bigotry and humiliation if they had a country of their own. These events played out between the period the 1890's to 1900; considerably earlier than WWII and, indeed, before WW I.

Through the efforts of Chaim Weizmann, the Jews received the Balfour Declaration of 1917. The declaration was related to the gratitude felt towards Dr. Weizmann for having developed a method of producting acetone, essential for the explosive referred to as "cordite." This was something that had importance in WW I.

It should also be noted that in WW I the Ottoman Empire was a member of the axis and, that its empire, such as it was at the time, was dismembered into various national entities after the war by the allied powers. The Jews in Palestine (the Yishuv) had joined in the fight against the Turks. (The "yishuv" was a term for the Jews in Palestine that came into use in, or around, 1880. ) The Arabs, it should be noted, fought on the side of the Turks.

Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, Palestine were all entities whose boundaries were created by the Allies; mainly the English and the French. There was no Jordan. That country was originally part of Palestine and, in keeping with their promise to the Jews, Palestine was to be divided between the Arabs and the Jews. But then Churchill belatedly discovered an Arab friend to whom he felt he had to give a country. What country? Well, you know, he answered, the one across the Jordan. And so it was that map makers suddenly found themselves with a new country, Trans-Jordan. That, at any rate, is what it was called in my geography book when I attended grammar school. And, so now, only the sliver of land remaining became Palestine and it was this that was to be divided between the Jews and the Arabs.

It's interesting to note that, in those long ago days, everyone in Palestine was a Palestinian. Even the Jews were Palestinians. Two events then occurred which lead directly to today's problems; namely, (a) rejection by the Arab states of the UN's declaration that Palestine was to be divided into two states, a Jewish state and an Arab state and (b) UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency) set up to provide for the Palestinian Arabs dispersed throughout the middle east.

The rejection of the Arab states of the UN's declaration was made manifest by Arab countries such as Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt sending their armies to destroy the Jews and the Jewish state. To everyone's considerable surprise, the Jews prevailed against the far larger and better equiped Arab forces. After the Six Day War, the Arab states met in Khartoum and on September 1, 1967 passed their famous resolution containing the "three no's"; no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, and no negotiation with Israel. It was not until the defeat of the Egyptians in the Yom Kippur War of 1973 that Egypt and Israel entered into a peace agreement. That was subsequently followed by an agreement with Jordan.

The PLO was founded only in May of 1964. It was, however, only a fragile organization that was established to provide "some boots on the ground" for larger Arab nations such as Egypt. With Egypt's defeat in '73, it became the primary vehicle for action against Israel. It's leaders, such as Arafat, who was born in Egypt, were largely drawn from outside Palestine.

The Islamic states arrayed against Israel now gave their support to Arafat and later Abbas. But, whereas Ben Gurian and Menachem Begin were able to find common ground, the same does not seem to have been true for Arafat and his allies. At one point, the behavior of his followers caused them to be ejected from Jordan at a considerable loss of blood. They then went to Lebanon where they entered into fierce battles with the Maronites. With time, Palestinian leaders gained a reputation for corruption. The Hamas victory in the Gaza elections is generally credited to the perceived corruption of Fatah.

Today, the support of their allies has metamorphed into something different. Hamas is supported by Hezbollah, which in turn is supported by Iran and Syria. Abbas and Fatah, is supported by the Saudis, the Egyptians and other Sunnis. This all has a bearing on Israel being able to reach peace terms with Abbas. Reaching a peace agreement with Hamas, considering that their support comes from Iran and Syria, is just not going to happen.

But reaching a peace agreement with Abbas is also problematical. Unlike Jordan and Egypt, the Palestinians on the west bank prosper at the sufferance of the Saudis and the Egyptians. Corruption remains a problem. But, more than that, the Saudis have no motivation to see Abbas make peace with Israel. They are like a super-rich child having supplicants like Abbas do their bidding. Abbas understands the game and is willing to play along as long as it brings prosperity to his clan -- which it does.

Israel recognizes this and has decided to get on with its life. And, it has been doing very nicely. In 2010, it will be recognized as a "developed nation" with an economy as large as either Denmark or Brussels. (Previously it was designated as a "developing nation.") It is a nation recognized for its leadership role in medicine and the sciences.

As to UNRWA: Here we have a case of good intentions leading to hell. Jewish refugees from Arab countries was every bit as numerous as the Arab refugees from Palestine. But, there was a difference; the Arab refugees ran away of their own accord, the Jewish refugees were forced out. Be that as it may, Jews from all over the world worked together to care for the Jewish refugees and integrate them into various Jewish societies. Most of these Sefardic refugees went to Israel.

The Islamic nations acted differently to the refugees. They let them squat as refugees for a period now greater than 60 years. UNRWA, created to care for these refugees, became their chief employer, and their dispenser of food, medicine, and other necessities. No Arab country gives them citizenship. Indeed, Jordan recently took their Jordanian citizenship away from them. Saudi Arabia which brings workers in from India and the Phillipines has little use for them. Any good person, and that includes many Jews, feels badly for these people. They are true victims. But, you've got to ask who it was that made them victims? Clearly, it was their fellow Arabs and UNRWA.

Had the Palestinian refugees been incorporated into Arab society the Israelis and the Palestinians that remained could far more easily have arrived at peace. But, clearly, that is not what most Islamic nations wanted.

So, if you're hoping for peace, dream on.